Prof. Alan Lightman celebrates the life of Stephen Hawking in this opinion piece for The Washington Post. “The passing of Stephen Hawking gives us the opportunity to celebrate the best in ourselves, to reaffirm the power of the human mind and the majesty of our desire to know and to understand this strange universe we find ourselves in.”
Robert C. Pozen, a senior lecturer at Sloan, writes for The Boston Globe about how the new tax act would create potentially major fiscal challenges for “cities with large unfunded liabilities for pension benefits and retiree health care.” He addresses several ways in which cities might make adjustments to mitigate the losses, citing data from JP Morgan.
Prof. Junot Diaz appeared on CBS This Morning to speak about his new children’s book "Islandborn," which was partly inspired by his experience as a young immigrant from the Dominican Republic. "A lot of us can't remember our origins,” said Diaz. “We're shaped by places and people that we've never, ever met. And that's something important to recognize."
Prof. Junot Diaz speaks with Karen McPherson of The Washington Post about his new children’s book, Islandborn, about a girl from the Dominican Republic growing up in an urban immigrant community. “The best stories provide us with opportunities for recognition and estrangement — to be spoken to most directly, or to feel that we are eavesdropping,” Diaz says.
TechCrunch’s “Technotopia” podcast, hosted by John Biggs, features Prof. Nick Montfort, who has authored a new book, “The Future”. Montfort’s book identifies those whose work impacts the future of culture and technology.
Profs. Polina Anikeeva and Feng Zhang are two of the 2018 recipients of the Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise, which are awarded to “young immigrants who have demonstrated exceptional promise early in their careers,” reports Lisa Krieger of The Mercury News.
Using recent analyses by Prof. Frank Levy, Eduardo Porter of The New York Times explores the notion that AI will eliminate jobs and negatively impact American politics. Prof. Daron Acemoglu suggests that with more employment options in large cities, the backlash “will be more muted than it was when trade took out the jobs of single-industry company towns.”
Prof. Kevin Esvelt speaks with Scientific American reporter Elie Dolgin about his work applying genetic engineering to eradicate diseases like malaria. Esvelt explains that one day researchers could potentially, “engineer an organism that would confer disease resistance to an entire species. Ideally, we’d want to start small and local, see how well it works, and only then scale up if it’s warranted.”
In a Wired article, Prof. Carlo Ratti writes about how responsive sensors can help reduce energy usage in buildings. Ratti explains that, “by pursuing a tailor-made, non-standardised approach we can achieve not only better comfort levels for building users, but also a substantial reduction in energy consumptions: between 25 per cent and 40 per cent.”
Boston Globe reporter Cate McQuaid spotlights the new works Prof. Judith Barry created for the citywide collaboration, “Art + Tech.” The ICA’s chief curator Eva Respini says that, “Judith is a prescient thinker, working on a cutting edge with digital and video technology.”
STAT reporter Dominic Smith highlights how MIT researchers are applying the art of origami to developing a new way to deliver cancer medications. Prof. Michael Cima explains that, “the idea here was, is there a way we could do a minimally invasive procedure to deploy some sort of device that will deliver the drug over that entire course of the therapy?”
Reporting for the PBS NewsHour, Nsikan Akpan spotlights Prof. Kripa Varanasi’s work developing the non-stick coating technology LiquiGlide. Akpan also examines how Varanasi’s group is studying how to, “stop clogs at desalination water facilities by observing how saltwater evaporates, or they’re keeping water from condensing on steam turbines to improve energy efficiency at power plants.”
In an article for Physics Today, Prof. Anna Frebel details the formation of the heaviest elements. While scientists previously thought that supernova explosions were responsible for the creation of elements heavier than iron, Frebel notes that evidence from LIGO and from a faint galaxy known as Reticulum II suggest, “neutron-star mergers are the universe’s way to make elements such as gold and platinum.”
Prof. Susan Solomon has been named one of two recipients of this year’s Crafoord Prize for her contributions to climate research, according to the Associated Press. Solomon was honored for her, "fundamental contributions to understanding the role of atmospheric trace gases in Earth's climate system."
Times Higher Ed reporter Matthew Reisz highlights Prof. Daniel Jackson’s book, “Portraits of Resilience.” Reisz writes that, “MIT and its press are to be congratulated on a book – given out free to all this year’s new students – that not only addresses head on the issue of mental health within higher education but is so frank about how this plays out within its own institution.”